Aspirin May Be Linked With Rare Eye Condition

12/19/2012 12:26 PM ET

Regular use of over the counter aspirin could be linked to a rare eye condition called neovascular macular degeneration, says a new study from researchers at University of Wisconsin. For the study the researchers reviewed data collected as part of the ongoing Beaver Dam Eye Study, which has collected data for over 30 years.

They found that those who are regular aspirin users (taking two or more aspirin a week for three months or more) were more than twice as likely to develop the rare condition. In total they found that about one in 200 non-aspirin users will develop the condition as compared with one in 100 aspirin users.

Lead researcher Dr. Barbara Klein says, however, the patients taking aspirin for heart conditions should make that their priority:

"If you're an aspirin user and your doctor put you on it for cardio-protective reasons, this is not a reason to stop it," she said. "It's better to have blurry vision, but still be here to complain about it than it is to die of a heart attack."

Their data was published this week in the The Journal of the American Medical Association.